Rico Gathers to Cowboys: Twitter Reacts as TE Is Selected in 2016 NFL Draft

The Dallas Cowboys have taken a chance on Baylor basketball player-turned-tight end Rico Gathers with the 217th pick in the 2016 NFL draft.    

Gathers, who is listed at 6'7 ⅛" and 270 pounds at ESPN.com, was a star on the court. He made the first-team All-Big 12 and was an Associated Press honorable mention All-American as a junior. He opted to enter the NFL draft and will at least get an opportunity to make the Cowboys roster this summer. 

As is often the case with a notable draft choice like this, social media lit up with hot takes on Gathers and the Cowboys. 

NFL Network's Ian Rapoport noted how the Cowboys wound up falling for Gathers:

The NFL on ESPN's official Twitter account knew the way to make Gathers sound like a football player was by tweeting out some basketball stats:

Cowboys Nation tried to take a more serious approach to answer the question of why the team drafted Gathers:

There may be a period of adjustment for the rookie, who KLFY-TV's Jeff Horchak noted hasn't played football in a few years:

Here are the best-of-the-rest reactions to Gathers joining the Cowboys:

Gathers doesn't have any recent football experience, making his climb to be a successful NFL player steeper than the usual sixth-round pick. 

However, this is hardly an unprecedented move. Antonio Gates, Jimmy Graham and Julius Thomas are some of the college basketball players who found tremendous NFL success. Graham did play one year of football at Miami, but Gates was strictly a basketball player at Kent State. 

It's unfair to expect Gathers to turn into an All-Pro like Gates and Graham, but he has the size and raw athleticism to become an NFL tight end. In the sixth round, sometimes that's worth taking a chance on.